The present invention relates generally to intraoral devices and, more particularly, to an intraoral discluder device for use in relieving tension headaches, common migraine headaches, and temporomandibular disorders.
Tension and muscle contraction headaches affect many people every day. The headaches are often recurring and, without effective treatment, can become very painful, restricting an individual's ability to think clearly and function effectively. The discomfort associated with tension and muscle contraction headaches is usually due to pain from strained and fatigued muscles of the head. The majority of the muscles of the human head are not sufficiently strong to elicit the type of pain and discomfort associated with tension and muscle contraction headaches. That is not the case with the temporalis muscle, however, which is located on the side of the skull and extends from just behind the eye to just behind the ear, and which is an extremely powerful muscle that functions to close or elevate the jaw.
Under normal circumstances, the temporalis muscle should not exert a large static force by contracting isometrically, except possibly during normal chewing. Inappropriate isometric contraction of temporalis muscle is commonly known as “clenching” and clinically known as myofascial dysfunction. Unfortunately, myofacial dysfunction is particularly difficult to detect or diagnose because the act of clenching is a relatively motionless act that is commonly done while a person is concentrating on another topic, or while sleeping.
As the muscular contraction condition of “clenching” continues, the muscle becomes fatigued and susceptible to spasm and cramping. The pain from spasming and cramping temporalis fibers is severe and is usually diagnosed as a common migraine. Individuals suffering from headaches, who seek the assistance of a physician, are usually treated with muscle relaxants, analgesics, and physical therapy for the muscle fatigue. However, medications and therapy require continual treatment and treat only the symptoms of the underlying problem and not the problem itself.
Persons suffering from headaches, who seek the assistance of a dentist, commonly will be diagnosed with a temporomandibular disorder and treated with an intraoral “jaw positioning” appliance. Unfortunately, the intraoral appliances provided by dentists usually are not entirely effective, because they only approximate the relative positions of the upper and lower teeth with respect to each other, allowing clenching to continue with minimal mandibular movement. Further, these intraoral appliances ordinarily cannot be used with patients who have malocclusions, protrusions or retrusions of the mandible, or other irregular teeth or mandibular orientations. Typically, the intraoral appliance must also be fabricated by a dentist at a prohibitive cost to a majority of individuals who suffer from tension and common migraine headaches. Lastly, most intraoral jaw positioning appliances and other types of semi-custom intraoral discluders can only be used on the upper teeth. However, in some circumstances, use of the device on the upper teeth is impossible due to malocclusions and irregular orientation of the teeth.
It should be apparent from the foregoing discussion, that there is need for a more effective semi-custom intraoral device that can be used with various teeth and jaw orientations and that can be placed on either the upper teeth or the lower teeth to prevent contact of the upper and lower teeth in all mandibular movements. By preventing contact of the upper and lower teeth, the semi-custom intraoral discluder would be able to inhibit inappropriate isometric contraction of the temporalis muscle and thereby prevent tension and common migraine headaches and other temporomandibular disorders. The present invention satisfies this need.